In the twentieth century meetings
between England and Spain, there were few change colours worn; the main
difference being in the recognition, and occasional concession, by England in
respect of both sides normally wearing blue shorts.

The first five clashes saw no changes
whatsoever, but by 1960, with shorter and lighter-coloured shorts becoming all
the rage, England decided to wear all white in Madrid, against the Spaniards.
When they met, five months later, at Wembley, England were going through an experimental phase of different sock
colours; hence they switched to white from their normal red, though the shorts
remained blue, the same as Spain's.

In 1965, a famous victory in Madrid was
achieved by Ramsey's wingless wonders, dressed in all white at the home of the
European Champions and a previously unconvinced public began to wonder if
England could actually win the following year's World Cup on home soil.

Two years later, England had brought Sir
Alf's prophecy to reality and it was a clash between the World and European
Champions at Wembley, where, once again, England were back in blue shorts, but
their pairing in the two-legged European Championship quarter-finals of 1968 saw
England revert to all white in both games. Once again, Spain were happy to let
England change.

England's
Colours Against Spain 1929-1968

No.

Date

Shirts

Shorts

Socks

Gk

Venue

Shirts

Shorts

Socks

167

15 May 1929

Estadio Metropolitano, Madrid

180

9 December 1931

Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, London

258

2 July 1950

Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho,
Maracană, Rio de Janeiro

296

18 May 1955

El Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

301

30 November 1955

Empire Stadium, Wembley, London

340

15 May 1960

El Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

344

26 October 1960

Empire Stadium, Wembley, London

395

8 December 1965

El Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

414

24 May 1967

Empire Stadium, Wembley, London

420

3 April 1968

Empire Stadium, Wembley, London

421

8 May 1968

El Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

After three
meetings in a year, they had no desire to face
each other again for a while, and it was a further
twelve years until they next met. Funnily enough,
they again met three times within a year. Insert
your own London bus joke here.

Though the
teams had been drawn to face each other in the
1980 European Championships in Italy, it didn't
stop England making a first appearance in
Barcelona for a friendly, three months before the
tournament. This was their first meeting with
an England side kitted out in Admiral attire and it was, in fact, the
very last airing for the 1974 white kit, as
England wore blue shorts in Spain, for the first
time since 1955. Interestingly, the squad posed
for pictures in their new Admiral uniform in the Nou Camp on the day before the game, even though
it wasn't worn in combat for another two months.

Their
meeting in the tournament, in Naples, with England
again in blue shorts, though now as part of their new Admiral
kit, was a dead rubber as far as winning the
competition went, and Admiral were unable to
advertise their ware due to a ban on advertising
logos on team strips.

Back at
Wembley in 1981, for some reason England felt the
need to revert back to all white again, but for
the next big occasion, the 1982 World Cup, the
same need didn't arise and they wore the trusty
old blue shorts. This was Admiral's last
appearance at a major tournament and the goalless
draw in Madrid was a huge disappointment as it
signalled England's exit from the tournament,
their hosts having been eliminated three nights
earlier.

Gary
Lineker's four-goal salvo in Madrid in 1987,
whilst on Barcelona's books, was achieved in the
all white of Umbro, and Spain were still in the
same colour combination they'd had for every
meeting since 1929. England's goalkeepers (Shilton
and Woods) appeared in grey for the first time
against Spain.

1992 brought
us a new twist, with England actually wearing a
change kit in the countries' first meeting in
Santander. This was the daring all-blue kit
with the Three Lions emblazoned across the fabric
of the shirts and shorts.

Spain then
changed their black socks to navy blue, whilst the Euro '96
quarter-final became their third successive
tournament clash with both sides in blue shorts,
yet all three friendly meetings, either side of the
tournaments, saw England change at least the colour
of their shorts.

Then it
happened. After 18 meetings, the Real Federación
Espańola de Fútbol finally relented and
acknowledged that there was a colour clash. Villa
Park in 2001 was the scene of not only Sven-Goran
Eriksson's first match in charge of England and
not only the debut of a new Umbro England kit, but
it was the first time we saw Spain wearing white
shorts against England. As if to congratulate them
on their gesture, England's goalkeeper, David
James wore white socks, instead of the completely
all-black kit he would normally have worn and
which would have clashed with Spain's dark navy
socks.

The first
four meetings of the new
millennium saw both England and Spain
switching to white shorts whenever they visited the
other. England
launched a new kit in 2007 against the Spanish and
then wore it for the last time against the
European Champions, two years later. By 2011,
Spain had added the world title to their
European success and were all-conquering. They
had broken with tradition, by switching to red
socks. Their shorts had become a brighter blue
and they must have been so proud of them, that
they had reverted back to the old days and
neglected to change them when faced with
England's similarly-coloured shorts.